24th May: World Of Wings Birds Of Prey Centre.

My mum is always so busy with work it feels like we barely see each other for more than twenty minutes at a time, so when she set aside a full day to spend with Reuben and I, it was very much appreciated. I didn't want to just invite her up for a cup of coffee and some home made cakes but I also didn't want to make her drive for ages to get somewhere for us to spend the day so looked online for some activities in our area. I was just about to give up looking and just suggest a play park when i scrolled down one more like and found out there is a bird of prey centre ten minutes from hour town.
It was called World of Wings and I am so glad I found the place. Although there is a part of me that does not like the idea of wild animals coped up, There is also a part of me that wants to go see a ruppell's griffon vulture named Gandalf (so gutted my camera cut out of battery before i got to see her in the flying display!)!
I would recommend the centre to anyone that can travel there. I found the staff very helpful and informative and Reuben seemed to love it!

When I had gotten off the phone to my mum to find out when she was picking me up, Reuben got terribly excited and just sat in the conservatory waiting for granny to drive up so we went outside to wait. Played some games where i copied what ever Reuben was doing and then we wiggled our bums for five minutes. Michael was in stitches at us and didn't get very many pictures but I can vouch that we looked super cute.

The first bird we met were some parrots and macaws. They had been taught to say 'Hello' and 'Bye Bye' to the visitors but Reuben was so excited about seeing them he managed to laugh over them any time they spoke. I can just imagine how excited he would have gotten if he'd heard it since just seeing them eating peanuts was enough to get him hyper

His favorite parrot was Simon. A little green and red parrot that I can not recall what type of parrot her was. Reuben spent a good chuck of his time at the centre talking to Simon and copying his little claws. Super cutie Patoootie that he is!

We met many other birds including eagles, owls, hawks and ravens.

Trying to convince Reuben not to hang on the enclosure was not as hard as trying to stop him from running everywhere at full pace, but hey, he was  enjoying himself!

My favorite by far was Gandalf, she was just this huge beast of a bird. I really wish my camera had not cut out half way through the flying show because she was just so impressively huge. Although, she had this comical 'walk' and I will be sure to get it on camera when we go back! And her enclosure made me giggle a little. Staff have a tiptop sense of humour at the centre.

Next up was a quick cup of tea and a snack before heading on down to the Flying Display Show which once again, was great. Really informative. And i little bit funny with Reubens reactions to a few of the birds! First up was Ash the Barn Owl, who suffers from melanism which makes his feather black instead of the tan of normal barn owls. I had to turn Reuben away when he ate a full baby chicken because I know how much Reuben loves baby chickens and was worried it's upset him!

Next in the flying display was Loki the Harris Hawk:

Loki, playing up to his name, was being a little mischievous and kept flying off to inspect other things. The bird handler began to tell us that if a hawk is acting up you wait for it to come back to you and do not go after it or shout on it to bring it back because that is when it will just rebel and you will never get it back. This is when Reuben started to shout 'LOKI!' at the top of his lungs to get the bird back. When he finally came back the handlers got him to land on the fence directly behind Reuben and I have never seen him happier. He started squealing with joy and excitement which made all the others in crowd laugh and 'awwww' and obviously Reuben clocks on and continues to put his hands over his mouth and just try to be super cute to get more attention! They made Loki do a few more things including catching his dinner mid air.

Last but not least was Gandalfs turn to wow the crowd and boy, were me, my mother and Reuben impressed! Funny to see the teenage girls jump away in fear at something a two year of is jumping down stairs to get to! Reuben proceeded to copy her jumping about and I continued to be gutted I couldn't get it on camera. Did i mention my camera cut out of battery?

Sadly, we had to head home but we got a couple of little toys for Reuben and we are certain we will pop back one day with Daddy! But if you can get to World of Wings, Please try to.

love from

ZXSquecktrum